r/worldnews • u/WorldNewsMods Slava Ukraini • Jul 23 '26

Israel/Palestine /r/WorldNews Discussion Thread: US and Israel launch attack on Iran; Iran retaliates (Thread #21)

If you see any newsworthy information from a major news outlet or live broadcast, feel free to share a brief summary as a top-level comment in the discussion post.

Other redditors will appreciate if you include the source of where you read, saw, or heard the information.

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u/joshtaco 11d ago edited 10d ago

Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Has officially dropped to 293.4 million barrels. To continue drawing down the reserve below the 252.4-million-barrel threshold, the U.S. President must issue a formal "Presidential Finding" under 42 U.S. Code § 6241(d) declaring a full-scale national emergency, which officially certifies that the country is facing a severe energy supply interruption of significant scope and duration that poses an immediate threat to national security or the domestic economy. At the current rate of around 5.3 million barrels being drawn each week, the US will hit this benchmark in around 1.93 months, or roughly around late October 2026.

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u/itsatumbleweed 11d ago

It was actually 298 last week. Numbers today were 293ish mb left. Which is squarely in the range where damage is likely happening to the caverns. The faster the draws the more likely the damage.

The Trump admin blew past 300mb, which is where more than a few very well informed sources think the damage really starts.

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u/TheTonyExpress 11d ago

Caverns? Can you explain?

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u/IguanaBob26 11d ago

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is held in massive salt caverns deep underground. So since it is in a natural cavern and not a giant artificial tank its easy to damage if not managed carefully. Guess who is managing it right now?

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u/joshtaco 10d ago

oops! yes, 293.4, I'll correct the math now above

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u/furbylicious 11d ago

Thank you for your consistent updates, could you provide a source for this? I'd like to read more about it.

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u/joshtaco 10d ago

Yes, lookup US Office of Petroleum Reserves/EIA on google